Vienna Alvernon Verrett

Obituary

Private family services will be held. Ms. Verrett's ashes will be scattered in one of her favorite places in Hope.

Ms. Verrett was born Dec. 16, 1908, the daughter of Bert and Veronica Moore in Lansing, Mich. She was raised in Newberry, Mich., where she attended school until the eighth grade. As a young girl, she and her sister passed the hat as they tap danced. With the money they earned, they bought cloth for their mother to make their school clothes. Ms. Verrett later worked in the fields of Mexico and Southern California, and worked with homeless shelters and Catholic alcoholic rehabilitation centers.

Ms. Verrett's last 23 years was spent in Alaska, mostly in Hope, where she loved the people and the town. She was an artist who like to draw wilderness scenes on "toad stools" that grew on dead, fallen trees. She gave her art to neighbors and friends.

"She was a very kind person and lived a simple life, and she particularly enjoyed the wilderness and forest," her family said. "She was a very independent person who loved Jesus all her life. Her nephews, Charles and Montie, and her friends at Kat's Eldercare will miss her dearly."

Ms. Verrett was preceded in death by her daughter, Fern; sons, Racy and Wayne; four brothers; and seven sisters.

She is survived by her nephews, Montie Huntwork of Calhan, Colo., and Charles Huntwork of Davenport, Wash.; great niece, Cherie (Huntwork) Mageski of Plateville, Wis.; five grandchildren of Michigan and Ohio; and close friends, Joe Knyszek of Hope and Mark Kovac of Ketchikan.